Senator Adegbenga Sefiu Kaka, a member of
the All Progressive Congress (APC)
representing Ogun East in the upper
legislative chamber, has defended the appeal
by his party to the National Assembly to
impeach President Goodluck Jonathan.
Kaka, a former deputy governor of Ogun
State from 1999 to 2003 during the
governorship of Chief Olusegun Osoba, also
condemned reactions by the Presidency and
the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
describing APC’s call as treasonable.
APC, through its interim National Publicity
Secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had on
December 15 requested the National
Assembly to commence impeachment
proceedings against the president, arguing
that the ship of state was drifting
dangerously, adding that the trend had to be
arrested.
Mohammed’s call came in the wake of
former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s open
letter to Jonathan, in which he accused the
president and his administration of grievous
constitutional infractions. The Presidency
and PDP, in separate reactions to APC’s call,
threatened that treasonable charges may be
brought against leaders of the party for
conceiving such an idea.
But Kaka, Vice Chairman, Senate Committee
on Agriculture and Rural Development,
insisted in an exclusive interview with
Saturday Newswatch, that his party did no
wrong. He said there was nothing
treasonable in the impeachment of a
president. Said he: “If my own party is
talking about impeachment, I believe that
there is nothing treasonable in the call.
Impeachment is entrenched in the
constitution and the conditionalities for
impeachment are also stated in black and
white, which I think my party must have
studied very well before making the
impeachment call. If we have reached that
level and my party is calling for it, I don’t
think any law has been breached to the
point of classifying it as treasonable
charges. “
To the Presidency and PDP, Kaka said: “If
we haven’t reached that level
constitutionally, democratically, it is left
for those alleging treason to prove to the
world the aspect of the law that has been
broken or backing their allegation. So the
issue of treasonable felony is a defeatist
approach.”
The Senator contended that if some forces
allegedly having the backing of the
Presidency could threaten governors not in
their good books with impeachment, there
was nothing wrong in the call by APC for
the impeachment of the president. Asked
Kaka: “What is the difference between
impeachment of a governor and a
president? Not only that, if you go to Rivers,
they are threatening to impeach the
governor with five out of a parliament of 31
lawmakers; which one is more treasonable
of the attempted action cited? I believe
whatever threat they have against APC, is a
misplaced aggression, and it shows the level
of delusion the PDP-led government in the
country has sunk into over the years.”
Commending Obasanjo for his letter to the
President, Kaka said the former president
had through it spoken the minds of many
Nigerians. He added that “for those looking
at the messenger and not the message, as far
as the said letter is concerned, they need not
mind where Obasanjo is coming from or
whatever role he had played in the past as
regards the current democratic
dispensation. The fact of the matter is that
through that letter, Obasanjo has spoken out
the minds of Nigerians to this government
and nothing more.”
While calling on government to treat issues
raised in the letter and criticisms by other
Nigerians in good faith, Kaka said: “Mr.
President might have tried his best, but
what the generality of people are saying is
that his best is not good enough and that is
what Chief Obasanjo re-echoed in the said
letter.”
Kaka advised Nigerian leaders to imbibe the
lessons of the life and times of Dr. Nelson
Mandela by being responsive to the
yearnings of the people.

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